Ken Johnson Launches RVA Grooves
Ken Johnson, owner of a Richmond-based communications firm, has launched “RVA Grooves: All Things Arts and Culture.” Johnson, who has also been instrumental in the The Richmond Jazz Festival at Maymont, created RVA Grooves as a captivating new lifestyle reality series that showcases the talent RVA has to offer.
RVANEWS: LESSONS LEARNED
RVANews, the online news magazine I created with my co-owner and pal Scott Pharr, recently turned five. How crazy is that? Don’t they say that something like 100% of all businesses never last five years?
Photosynthesizers: Walking Through Walls
When GRID Magazine first met up with Photosynthesizers two years ago, the band-then little over two years old-had been performing at a furious pace and was in the process of completing their EP, Speakers in Black Holes. Since then, they’ve stepped back, reformulated, and overcome to reemerge with av fresh take on their musical message.
Finding Your Tribe
Over the years I have formed tribes, called them in powerfully, stumbled into them, killed them totally, some I just quietly walked away from and some still go on today. They are a force of goodness and also, at the same time, can be so hard too as we grow and move through life. I guess this is the human condition, nothing is quite easy but probably worth the work of connecting.
BBGB Brings Back Great Books
Jill Stefanovich and Jenesse Evertson are telling a story. As owners of BBGB, the Museum District children’s book store, these business partners are committed to bringing a new voice to an age old medium.
Happy RVA
Richmond is the birthplace of America. It has blessed my family, my career, and my life. My 8 children are scattered now – Florida, Texas, California, Minnesota, parts unknown, and in heaven. They have learned love, courage, and the rewards of exploration from our home on the Southside. I’m extremely grateful.
At the Center of It All: CenterStage Turns Three
Standing tall in the heart of Richmond on Grace Street is Richmond CenterStage, home to a cadre of world-class performing arts facilities, and the site of the biggest three-year birthday party in town.
SPARC Sets the Stage for Success
Wherever you look in RVA these days, there’s SPARC. The School of the Performing Arts (SPARC) has been on a roll, from their “Minds in Motion” performance on Brown’s Island during this summer’s Fireworks on the James event to its “LIVE ART” performance at the Carpenter Theatre with a surprise appearance from multi-Grammy winner Jason Mraz.
Thomas Jefferson Returns
This May, Thomas Jefferson symbolically returned to the Virginia State Capitol in the form of a larger-than-life bronze sculpture, commissioned by the Virginia Capitol Foundation with the support of some friends. Weighing in at 800 pounds, the nearly eight-foot-tall statue represents Jefferson at 117.5 percent life-size.
LIVE Art “SPARCS” a Tradition
Children dance across the stage in a variety of vibrant t-shirts; Samson Trinh jumps and ducks with the beat as he conducts the Upper East Side Big Band; colors splatter across the backdrop with each rise and fall of a child’s hand. All of these elements came together to create LIVE ART. Presented by the School of Performing Arts in the Richmond Community, this production featured 125 students from the LIVE ART program alongside nationally recognized musicians.